Chapter 1 The Disturbance

Agatha suddenly stopped.

At the end of her vision, something strange at the alley's entrance interrupted her wandering thoughts.

In that corner shrouded in dimness, clumps of nauseating black matter were surging. They seeped from the nearby ground and wall surfaces, like thick grease overflowing from pipes. With sticky, disgusting sounds, the mud-like substances almost instantly began to take on human-like forms, casting hostile gazes at Agatha.

"They really are persistent..."

Agatha couldn't help but sigh softly, but her body moved without hesitation. Before the mud could fully solidify, she raised her staff, pointing it at the closest clump.

Pale flames erupted from nowhere, instantly engulfing the writhing "Primal Essence," the power of cremation turning it directly into ashes. The next second, a gray whirlwind swept through the alley. The gray wind howled as it passed through the counterfeit human forms that were rising one by one, as if carrying a powerful force of devouring and weathering, turning them into dry, eroded dust.

However, more and more mud-like matter seeped out from the nearby walls and ground, and more and more freakish humanoid figures appeared at the intersection, blocking Agatha's path.

The gray wind subsided, and Agatha's figure materialized from within it. Her face showed more weariness, and after sensing a strange aura suddenly appearing within the mud, her expression became even more solemn.

She looked in the direction of the aura, and saw a "counterfeit" formed from Primal Essence rapidly writhing and mutating. Within seconds, it transformed into a smiling young man with short blond hair, wearing a white shirt and a black vest.

"Miss Gatekeeper, you certainly have a lot of stamina," the young man said with a slight nod, his tone very polite. "I wonder if you're enjoying your exercise here?"

"If you think you can exhaust me to death here with this war of attrition, you're being naive," Agatha said, her gaze coldly fixed on yet another incarnation of the young man, calming her breathing. "Death has no meaning for me. I can still fight after death. The soul of the Gatekeeper never tires, and I will find you one day."

"Of course, of course. Truly killing a saint of Bartok is not that easy," the young man laughed, his smile quite bright. "I never considered killing you. I just need to keep you here for as long as possible. These empty shells for you to slaughter are just for entertainment, a pastime for your boredom."

"Then your heretical hospitality is truly unique," Agatha knew that the other party was using various methods to delay her, but at least for this moment, she didn't mind saying a few more words to recover her strength. "I'm suddenly a little curious, is your main body also so relaxed right now? I can feel that I'm gradually approaching your hiding place. Every time I destroy a monster controlled by you, I can feel your location more clearly... How many more places do you have to hide?"

The smile on the blond young man's face finally froze for a moment, but only for a moment. He smiled happily again. "Ah, it seems I overlooked something. Bartok's watchdogs always have a good 'sense of smell.' Then how about we make a bet?"

He raised a hand as if making an inviting gesture.

"Let's bet on whether you find my main body first, or whether Frost becomes the first earthly nation for the Saint Lord to descend upon. The stakes are your soul, and the lives of everyone in Frost..."

A pale flame exploded, suddenly engulfing the position where the young man was standing before he could finish speaking. The next second, Agatha had transformed into a howling gray wind. This gale crashed into the intersection, and the assembled counterfeit monsters immediately surged forward, trying to stop it, but they disintegrated and shattered under the power of the death wind. In the blink of an eye, the gray wind crashed into the blond young man who was entangled in pale flames, knocking him directly into a low wall across the street.

After a loud crash, the flames were blown away by the gale. Agatha's figure reappeared from the gray wind. She held her staff out in front of her with her right hand, the tip of the staff piercing directly through the blond young man's chest, pinning him firmly to the wall.

"Sorry, no bet," Agatha said, looking into the other party's eyes, her expression calm. "Clergy are forbidden from gambling."

"Interesting..." The cultist pinned to the wall twitched the corner of his mouth, saying as he overflowed with filthy black mud from his mouth and nose. This body was dying rapidly, but he seemed to have no fear or pain. "I hope your composure and confidence can last a little longer..."

Life flowed from the body. The blond young man's body rapidly collapsed and melted, turning into a viscous black substance that flowed down and quickly dried as it hit the ground. The counterfeit monsters that remained around him, controlled by him, also stopped moving, reverting to piles of lifeless "Primal Essence."

Agatha pulled the staff from the wall, shaking off the filthy substance clinging to the tip with some disgust, then calmly raised her head, looking towards a certain direction in the upper city.

Another incarnation had been eliminated. In the process of life flowing away, the connection between the Gatekeeper and the heretic hiding in the shadows was further strengthened.

It felt... closer.

"Composure and confidence... I have always believed in myself..."

Agatha muttered to herself, then took a few deep breaths, using the staff to support her body, and slowly walked in the direction she sensed. Behind her, in a puddle of water, a cluster of ghostly green fire was emerging from the reflection in the water, quietly illuminating the dim alley.

The puddles in the alley, the windows of nearby buildings, the metal lampposts of distant streetlights... all the smooth, mirror-like surfaces reflected the tiny shadows of flames.

In the Silent Cathedral, the candles were bright. The sound of the staff and heels striking the ground broke the silence of the meditation sanctuary. A tall figure in black crossed the dark-colored door and came to the platform where the black "spirit coffin" was placed.

The voice of Bishop Ivan, somewhat hoarse and old, came from the coffin: "Agatha, you're back. How is the situation on the Second Waterway?"

"The first batch of people just arrived at the West District entrance. It will take a day just to clear the connecting shaft and send the equipment down," Agatha shook her head, saying with some helplessness. "You have to have some patience, Bishop Ivan."

"Oh..." The voice in the coffin was silent for a moment, then asked, "How is the situation at the West District entrance?"

Agatha: "..."

After a moment, she sighed: "Underground facilities abandoned for half a century, how do you think it is? I mobilized twelve heavy machine guns and three steam walkers, all bullets blessed by holy oil and flame, and one hundred and fifty fully armed Silent Monks to disperse the darkness there. The good news is that we have successfully established the first stronghold at the crossroads below the shaft, and restarted the electricity and lighting in several connecting passages. The next exploration may be a little smoother than expected—if we don't encounter more collapses and gas leaks."

"No sign of heretics?"

"Not yet," Agatha shook her head. "But the situation deeper down is still unclear. The Second Waterway is too large, and the collapsed areas are isolated from each other. We are now only standing firm in the first passage of one area. But there is one situation that is more concerning..."

There was a rustling sound of cloth rubbing in the coffin, and then the dark coffin lid was pushed open from the inside. Bishop Ivan, like a mummy, sat up from inside.

"A concerning situation?" the "mummy" said in a low voice. "What happened?"

"At the end of some ancient pipes, we found traces of being repaired and modified, and some suspicious branch pipes extending into the dark depths," Agatha frowned and said. "We consulted the original blueprints in the archives and confirmed that those pipes were not on the original design drawings."

Bishop Ivan was silent for a while, then asked, "...What's your opinion?"

"It looks like someone continued to maintain the Second Waterway after it was abandoned, and modified it to some extent," Agatha said her thoughts. "This maintenance is not continuous, so many areas were still abandoned after several years of upkeep, but deeper in the sewers, there may be something still operating."

Bishop Ivan listened quietly. After a long time, he slowly opened his mouth: "The Second Waterway... it's a vast underground kingdom, enough to hold countless secrets. Even if you fill it with all the Guardian forces, it won't fill all its corridors and intersections, so don't pay too much attention to those insignificant traces of modification—focus on searching for those heretics. As for the other things, let the people at City Hall worry about them."

Agatha glanced at Bishop Ivan, then nodded thoughtfully.

Bishop Ivan noticed the weariness in the Gatekeeper's expression: "You don't look like you've rested well. Exploration of this level shouldn't be enough to tire you out like this. Are you not in good condition? You seem to have been preoccupied since you came in."

Agatha opened her mouth, hesitated for a few seconds, and then spoke: "There is a little... unease."